


Starry Night

by Ava_Rose



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Chizuru gets Pissed, F/M, Hiatus, Mixing routes, Past Harada Sanosuke/Yukimura Chizuru, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24724369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ava_Rose/pseuds/Ava_Rose
Summary: Harada's death has left Chizuru feeling hollow, but something in her isn't ready to die yet.“Shiranui-san.”
Relationships: Harada Sanosuke/Yukimura Chizuru
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Unexpected](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18905341) by [FloweryNamesLover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloweryNamesLover/pseuds/FloweryNamesLover). 



> So, my starting point for this story is kind of a blend of Harada's death in the anime and one of his bad endings. I also wasn't sure I really wanted to have Chizuru be the heroine for this, but it doesn't feel right otherwise.  
> I promise there will be a happy ending to this.

It started with a smile.

The smile the stranger wore was a sharp thing, and Chizuru watched with a sort of terror as Harada's mouth moved to mirror it. The Shinsengumi captain kept that smile, even as he chastised the other man for thinking so highly of himself when he was the only one there with a firearm. It was a smile that spoke of delight in things Chizuru didn't want to understand.

So she pushed her way through the crowd, terrified of the stranger's gun, but even more terrified of letting that smile sit on Harada's face too long. She was shaking while asking the stranger to leave. She knew both men could see it. She knew it was obvious that she was mentally chanting, _Please don't shoot, please don't shoot, please..._ , but the stranger did eventually leave.

Harada's lecture was hard to bear for a moment, but it was easy to see how much he cared when she looked back. Why couldn't she shake the unease from when he'd worn that smile though?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the actual start of the story. Sorry if anyone was confused by the prologue-y bit.

“Shiranui-san.” Chizuru’s voice called out to the retreating demon without her permission, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop the words, “Leaving me here alone is sentencing me to death.”

Why had she told him that? Maybe it was some sort of survival instinct attempting to play on the fact that he was a male demon, and therefore he would feel obligated to protect her. Maybe she just wanted someone to know because she couldn’t imagine trying to continue on with Harada’s body right in front of her. She curled back into his side with a tiny sob, soaking in the tiny amount of warmth he still had. The future felt cold and unforgiving now that he wouldn’t be there to take her hand.

Shiranui had stopped at her earlier words, scowling back at her, but now he was back by her side. He crouched to look directly into her face, eyes almost set into a glare, lips almost pursed into a pout. The demon was clearly upset, but maybe not with her. Perhaps he was more upset that he couldn’t bring himself to leave her to kill herself.

“Let’s bury him,” Shiranui finally sighed, standing back up. Chizuru sluggishly followed. Now that the suggestion had been made, she wasn’t going to be able to rest until the task was finished.

She took a blade off one of the fallen Furies without an ounce of guilt, even with the knowledge that this would come back to haunt her later. If she had a later, anyway.

Shiranui had already started on hacking at the ground with his own looted blade, so Chizuru joined him. The burn on her palms, the sweat trickling into her eyes, the way her breathing got steadily heavier, it all served to remind her that she was very much alive. She was alive and Harada was not because he had shoved her out of the way, taken hits that had been meant for her. He had sacrificed himself, knowing full well she would’ve quickly recovered from any injuries.

_How could he?_

Chizuru’s body was too busy to bother with tears, but her mind was falling into the same dark void as if she were in a position to cry herself to sleep. Every breath caught her lungs on fire, but she kept digging. She absolutely was not going to fall apart in front of someone like Shiranui. Even if he had been something of an ally that night, he had been complicit in Kazama’s attempts to kidnap her in the past. Who knew what would happen once Harada’s body had been laid to rest?

It took hours, but Shiranui finally stopped her.

“This should be plenty deep enough.”

Now came the much harder part. Chizuru could barely bring herself to look at Harada, much less touch him. With a whimper, she reached out to close his eyes and pressed her lips to his one last time. She dragged his body to the makeshift grave, not letting Shiranui touch him. Harada had died protecting her, she would bear the weight of this responsibility herself. At least, that was her thought process until she very nearly fell into the grave herself. She let Shiranui help her lower Harada’s body after that.

It was too soon and not soon enough that Harada was covered, her eyes no longer able to trace over his handsome face, her hands no longer able to grab his larger ones. Harada was gone.

“Should we mark it?” Shiranui asked her, looking back at the spear still resting against the tree. Chizuru shook her head. She didn’t want anyone disturbing his body. He had more than earned the right to peaceful rest, away from the conflicts that he had never really meant to see through. Shiranui sighed, rubbing the back of his head in agitation, “Okay, then now what? I really don’t feel right leaving you here if you’re just going to-”

He froze at the same time that Chizuru tensed up. She hadn’t spent all this time with the Shinsengumi for nothing, and there was definitely someone approaching them. Who could possibly be approaching the site of such a recent battle?

“Sakamoto, you ass.” Shiranui had evidently figured it out much sooner than Chizuru had, calling out into the darkness. Was this night ever going to end? “Thought you were hunting Tosa Furies?”

“I am. Their trail led here.” The casual speech and deep, rolling voice poked at a tiny part of Chizuru’s memory. She had met the man this voice belonged to. It had only been once, and the name he’d given her had undoubtedly been fake, but she wondered if he would remember her.

“Saitani Umetaro-san?” Her voice was very shaky, but as the newcomer came into her field of vision she saw she was correct. He was dressed in Western clothes, but this was the same man who had flirted with her the first time she’d left the Shinsengumi compounds to look for her father. Shiranui had called him “Sakamoto” though…

“Who…?” Faster than Chizuru could prepare for, he had ducked down in front of her. He closely examined her face, trying to see beyond the dirt and gore. Chizuru saw the moment it clicked, “Chizuru-chan?”

Hearing her name said with such concern broke through Chizuru’s admittedly pathetic defenses. With a wail, she allowed this man who was honestly a stranger to pull her against his shoulder to cry. She could hear him asking Shiranui questions in a bewildered voice. That was fine. She didn’t think she was going to be at all coherent for a long while.

Saitani had long been brought up to speed by the time Chizuru had cried herself out and just rested against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat through the layers of clothes. It was faster than Harada’s, and each beat almost seemed shallower. It was a better comfort than nothing, so she stayed put. She didn’t want to do anything more than breathe.

“Princess.” Shiranui seemed to have other plans. His finger poked at her cheek again before he continued, “Sakamoto’s mission is probably going to bring him to Kodo and the remainder of the Shinsengumi. Do you want to go with him?”

That name again. Chizuru twisted to look at the man still holding her, “Sakamoto Ryouma-san?”

He grimaced, which was enough of a confirmation. Chizuru didn’t bother asking how he was alive. The answer was glaringly obvious, surrounded as they were by Fury corpses.

“He got blamed for your assassination.” Of course that was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

“Don’t go getting mad at him for being alive now.” Shiranui seemed to see where Chizuru’s mind was going, “He didn’t choose to become a Fury.”

That was enough to give her pause. At least the Shinsengumi had given their men a choice. Sakamoto’s chest abruptly moved in a sigh, bringing Chizuru to her feet as he straightened up.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” he told Chizuru, “I’m glad to have the chance to fix certain wrongs.”

“Hey, don’t go ignoring me now.” Shiranui’s irritated voice caught Chizuru’s full attention and she turned to him. “If you want to go with him then I might be willing to accompany you. Or you could...Actually, scratch that. What do you want to do?”

“My father has to be stopped.” That was one of the few clear thoughts left in her mind, “If going with Sakamoto-san means I can stop him, then that’s what I should do.”

“Be very sure about that. You could end up having to end his life yourself.”

“He already ended mine.” Chizuru surprised herself with the quiet viciousness in her voice, “I will do what it takes.”

Chizuru had felt Sakamoto back up half a step when she’d snarled, but Shiranui looked almost impressed. 

“No way I’m going to miss you losing your shit. Guess you’ve got some company now, man!” The clap Shiranui landed on Sakamoto’s shoulder was hard enough to make Chizuru wince, “Make sure to take good care of us, okay?”

Chizuru would only realize later that she probably should have been more apprehensive of the vicious grin Shiranui was sporting.


End file.
